Hajj quota: Decision can't be withdrawn, Saudi govt

New Delhi: The Saudi Arabian government rejected the application of the centre to reconsider the decision to cut the quota of Hajj pilgrims from India by 20 %. Saudi government officially informed India that it had decided to cut the hajj quota because of the massive expansion work being done at the Masjidil Haram (Grand Mosque) in Mecca and decision is applicable to all the countries. More over there is 50 % decrease in the number of pilgrims for Saudi too. 
Earlier the state hajj committees wrote letter to central hajj committee and ministry of external affairs that the slashing of hajj quota in total by Saudi Government should not affect Kerala. Majority of the applicants from Kerala are applying since last three years and the situation in the state should be considered. The Saudi authorities have slashed the total number of pilgrims from all over the world for this year's hajj by 20 percent.
The Saudi authorities pointed out that the measures being taken were due to the ongoing construction works at the Holy Mosque in Mecca, which may not be completed before the 2013 hajj season.
Saudi Hajj Minister, Dr Bandar Al-Hajjar, has said slots have been distributed to cover the whole year.
'The companies should use the visas granted to them on time and should not hold them to be used in one month,' he said.
Under the new arrangement, according to the minister, the visas will be granted on a monthly basis, and the companies are expected to use them the same month. 'If the visas are not used during the same month, they will be cancelled,' the minister warned.

Hajj quota: Decision can't be withdrawn, Saudi govt

New Delhi: The Saudi Arabian government rejected the application of the centre to reconsider the decision to cut the quota of Hajj pilgrims from India by 20 %. Saudi government officially informed India that it had decided to cut the hajj quota because of the massive expansion work being done at the Masjidil Haram (Grand Mosque) in Mecca and decision is applicable to all the countries. More over there is 50 % decrease in the number of pilgrims for Saudi too. 
Earlier the state hajj committees wrote letter to central hajj committee and ministry of external affairs that the slashing of hajj quota in total by Saudi Government should not affect Kerala. Majority of the applicants from Kerala are applying since last three years and the situation in the state should be considered. The Saudi authorities have slashed the total number of pilgrims from all over the world for this year's hajj by 20 percent.
The Saudi authorities pointed out that the measures being taken were due to the ongoing construction works at the Holy Mosque in Mecca, which may not be completed before the 2013 hajj season.
Saudi Hajj Minister, Dr Bandar Al-Hajjar, has said slots have been distributed to cover the whole year.
'The companies should use the visas granted to them on time and should not hold them to be used in one month,' he said.
Under the new arrangement, according to the minister, the visas will be granted on a monthly basis, and the companies are expected to use them the same month. 'If the visas are not used during the same month, they will be cancelled,' the minister warned.

Nation launches elaborate surveillance system

New Delhi: The nation is said to have launched a wide-ranging surveillance programme that will give its security agencies and even income tax officials the ability to tap directly into e-mails and phone calls without oversight by courts or the parliament.

The expanded surveillance is expected to safeguard national security and it has alarmed privacy advocates at a time when allegations of massive US digital snooping beyond American shores has set off a global furore.

Cynthia Wong, an Internet researcher at New York-based Human Rights Watch, said, "If India doesn't want to look like an authoritarian regime, it needs to be transparent about who will be authorized to collect data, what data will be collected, how it will be used, and how the right to privacy will be protected."

The Central Monitoring System (CMS) was announced in 2011 but there has been no public debate and the government has said  
little about how it will work or how it will ensure that the system is not abused. The government started to quietly roll the system out state by state in April this year, according to government officials.  

Eventually, it is expected that the system would be able to target any of India's 900 million landline and mobile phone subscribers and 120 million Internet users.

The new system is expected to allow the government to listen to and tape phone conversations, read e-mails and text messages, monitor posts on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn and track searches on Google of selected targets.

In 2012, India is believed to have sent 4,750 requests to Google Inc for user data, the highest in the world after the United States.

Nation launches elaborate surveillance system

New Delhi: The nation is said to have launched a wide-ranging surveillance programme that will give its security agencies and even income tax officials the ability to tap directly into e-mails and phone calls without oversight by courts or the parliament.

The expanded surveillance is expected to safeguard national security and it has alarmed privacy advocates at a time when allegations of massive US digital snooping beyond American shores has set off a global furore.

Cynthia Wong, an Internet researcher at New York-based Human Rights Watch, said, "If India doesn't want to look like an authoritarian regime, it needs to be transparent about who will be authorized to collect data, what data will be collected, how it will be used, and how the right to privacy will be protected."

The Central Monitoring System (CMS) was announced in 2011 but there has been no public debate and the government has said  
little about how it will work or how it will ensure that the system is not abused. The government started to quietly roll the system out state by state in April this year, according to government officials.  

Eventually, it is expected that the system would be able to target any of India's 900 million landline and mobile phone subscribers and 120 million Internet users.

The new system is expected to allow the government to listen to and tape phone conversations, read e-mails and text messages, monitor posts on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn and track searches on Google of selected targets.

In 2012, India is believed to have sent 4,750 requests to Google Inc for user data, the highest in the world after the United States.

Kedarath flood: Malayalee pilgrim recounts the horror

Ambalappuzha: Chandaran Purakkad recounted the horrors he had witnessed during his journey to Kedarnath, which was devastated by the flash floods. He said he was escaped only because he took last minute decision as not to go up to the temple, which he planned to visit in Haridwar, and returned only seeing its tower. Chandran from Punnapra is 76 year old and is a poet and lyricist. He went to pilgrimage with a team from Thiruvananthapuram via Delhi. They visited temples in North Kasi, Gangothri, Yamunothri and Rishikesh. When they reached Yamunothri the flash floods started, destroying everything on its way. His team returned on Thursday. 

Kedarath flood: Malayalee pilgrim recounts the horror

Ambalappuzha: Chandaran Purakkad recounted the horrors he had witnessed during his journey to Kedarnath, which was devastated by the flash floods. He said he was escaped only because he took last minute decision as not to go up to the temple, which he planned to visit in Haridwar, and returned only seeing its tower. Chandran from Punnapra is 76 year old and is a poet and lyricist. He went to pilgrimage with a team from Thiruvananthapuram via Delhi. They visited temples in North Kasi, Gangothri, Yamunothri and Rishikesh. When they reached Yamunothri the flash floods started, destroying everything on its way. His team returned on Thursday. 

Malayalee student gang raped in Manipal

Manipal : In a shocking incident late Thursday, a 22-year-old medical student was allegedly abducted and gang-raped by three people, including an auto driver, when she was on way to her flat from the college library, a police official said Friday.

'We have registered a criminal case against unidentified people under sections 366 and 376 (abduction and rape) read with 34 (common intent) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on a complaint by the victim earlier in the day to the local police station,' Udupi Superintendent of Police M.B. Boralingaiah told IANS.

A major educational centre, Manipal is 5 km from the famous Udupi temple town on the west coast of the state and about 410 km from Bangalore.

Malayalee student gang raped in Manipal

Manipal : In a shocking incident late Thursday, a 22-year-old medical student was allegedly abducted and gang-raped by three people, including an auto driver, when she was on way to her flat from the college library, a police official said Friday.

'We have registered a criminal case against unidentified people under sections 366 and 376 (abduction and rape) read with 34 (common intent) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on a complaint by the victim earlier in the day to the local police station,' Udupi Superintendent of Police M.B. Boralingaiah told IANS.

A major educational centre, Manipal is 5 km from the famous Udupi temple town on the west coast of the state and about 410 km from Bangalore.

8,000 still trapped in Kedarnath region

New Delhi:Rescuers scrambled Saturday to evacuate about 8,000 people who are still trapped in Uttarakhand's Kedarnath region as met office predicted rains in the flood-hit area from June 24.

A new ropeway has been installed at Lambagar, about 10 km from Badrinath, to rescue people, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) spokesperson Deepak K. Pandey told IANS.

He said about 8,000 people were still trapped in Kedarnath region that suffered massive damage due to rains and flash floods. 

Pandey said stranded people were being brought to Govindghat and then taken to Joshimath through bus and other vehicles. In Joshimath, names of rescued people are being noted before sending them for onward journey to Dehradun, Haridwar and Rishikesh. 

He said women, children and elderly were being sent through helicopters while the youth and able-bodied were being helped out through ropeway. 

'About 400 persons have been rescued through ropeway since yesterday (Friday),' Pandey said.

He said rescue efforts have been augmented in view of possibility of rain in the region from June 24. 

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inaccessible parts of Uttarakhand, he said. In Haridwar, 40 bodies of those killed in the flash floods and incessant rains have been found.

'40 bodies have been recovered from different points along the Ganga since last evening and taken to the district hospital where each of them is being given a number and an identification tag,' Senior Superintendent of Police Haridwar Rajeev Swaroop said. An equal number of bodies are likely to be recovered soon from different areas located along the banks of the Ganga in the holy city, Swaroop said. Citing difficulties in conducting the autopsy of so many bodies with limited facilities available, the official said additional teams of doctors have been requisitioned for the purpose.Rescuers were focusing on rain-ravaged Kedarnath area where 250 people are stranded before shifting focus to Badrinath where 9000 people are stuck, officials said.

Terming it as the 'worst tragedy of the millennium', Agriculture Minister Harak Singh Rawat said, 'It will take us at least five years to recover from the extensive damages caused to the entire infrastructure network in the Kedarnath area which is the worst affected'. Rawat, who had visited the Kedarnath area, said that he spent five hours there and was shocked to see the extent of the damage caused to the buildings and area adjoining the shrine. 'The centre of faith has turned into a burial ground.
Bodies are scattered in the area. Only the sanctum sanctorum
is intact,' he said. Thousands of people were still said to be stranded in
various parts of the state that was hit by cloudburst and
floods in the upper reaches that left several hundreds of
homes, rest houses and buildings in ruins and thousands of
people missing.
In Himachal Pradesh, rescue operations were on to
evacuate stranded people in rain-hit Kinnaur district with two
dedicated choppers pressed into service even as reports of
more people stuck in interior Pooh, Nako and Kaza areas poured
in.
Two IAF choppers and one state chopper had been deployed
for evacuating the stranded but one chopper has developed some
problem.
'So far over 550 people have been airlifted but the
number is steadily increasing with reports of more people
struck at different places, pouring in.Helicopter sorties have
also been planned for Pooh, Nako, Kaza and other interior
places,' officials said.PTI

8,000 still trapped in Kedarnath region

New Delhi:Rescuers scrambled Saturday to evacuate about 8,000 people who are still trapped in Uttarakhand's Kedarnath region as met office predicted rains in the flood-hit area from June 24.

A new ropeway has been installed at Lambagar, about 10 km from Badrinath, to rescue people, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) spokesperson Deepak K. Pandey told IANS.

He said about 8,000 people were still trapped in Kedarnath region that suffered massive damage due to rains and flash floods. 

Pandey said stranded people were being brought to Govindghat and then taken to Joshimath through bus and other vehicles. In Joshimath, names of rescued people are being noted before sending them for onward journey to Dehradun, Haridwar and Rishikesh. 

He said women, children and elderly were being sent through helicopters while the youth and able-bodied were being helped out through ropeway. 

'About 400 persons have been rescued through ropeway since yesterday (Friday),' Pandey said.

He said rescue efforts have been augmented in view of possibility of rain in the region from June 24. 

� x ; a � ��� ; background:white'>
inaccessible parts of Uttarakhand, he said. In Haridwar, 40 bodies of those killed in the flash floods and incessant rains have been found.

'40 bodies have been recovered from different points along the Ganga since last evening and taken to the district hospital where each of them is being given a number and an identification tag,' Senior Superintendent of Police Haridwar Rajeev Swaroop said. An equal number of bodies are likely to be recovered soon from different areas located along the banks of the Ganga in the holy city, Swaroop said. Citing difficulties in conducting the autopsy of so many bodies with limited facilities available, the official said additional teams of doctors have been requisitioned for the purpose.Rescuers were focusing on rain-ravaged Kedarnath area where 250 people are stranded before shifting focus to Badrinath where 9000 people are stuck, officials said.

Terming it as the 'worst tragedy of the millennium', Agriculture Minister Harak Singh Rawat said, 'It will take us at least five years to recover from the extensive damages caused to the entire infrastructure network in the Kedarnath area which is the worst affected'. Rawat, who had visited the Kedarnath area, said that he spent five hours there and was shocked to see the extent of the damage caused to the buildings and area adjoining the shrine. 'The centre of faith has turned into a burial ground.
Bodies are scattered in the area. Only the sanctum sanctorum
is intact,' he said. Thousands of people were still said to be stranded in
various parts of the state that was hit by cloudburst and
floods in the upper reaches that left several hundreds of
homes, rest houses and buildings in ruins and thousands of
people missing.
In Himachal Pradesh, rescue operations were on to
evacuate stranded people in rain-hit Kinnaur district with two
dedicated choppers pressed into service even as reports of
more people stuck in interior Pooh, Nako and Kaza areas poured
in.
Two IAF choppers and one state chopper had been deployed
for evacuating the stranded but one chopper has developed some
problem.
'So far over 550 people have been airlifted but the
number is steadily increasing with reports of more people
struck at different places, pouring in.Helicopter sorties have
also been planned for Pooh, Nako, Kaza and other interior
places,' officials said.PTI